London midday: FTSE crawling higher as Fed and Budget digested

Come midday on Thursday, stocks were registering slight gains as traders digested the policy announcement issued by the US Federal Reserve overnight, but volatility was still evident in other asset classes such as foreign exchange and commodities.At 12.25 the top flight index was 5.8 points higher at 6,951.01, with some effects from Wednesday's Budget from Chancellor George Osborne also still filtering through.As expected, the US central bank yesterday omitted any reference to being "patient" when starting to tighten interest rates, but the 17 members of the Federal Open Market Committee nearly halved their median projection for the level of the Fed funds rate at year-end 2015 to 0.625%.They also lowered their estimates for the following two years despite having reduced their forecasts for inflation and unemployment. The communiqué from the Fed and follow-up conference from Chair Janet Yellen saw the euro/dollar register its large intraday gain since 2000, no less.On Thursday investors were expected to focus on the summit of European Union heads of government and the news-flow surrounding the negotiations with Greece.That came as the yield on 10-year Greek bonds sprinted 62 basis points higher to 11.72%.Against analysts' predictions Norway's central bank maintained its deposit rate at 1.25%, instead of reducing it by 25 basis points. Nonetheless, the monetary authority clearly signalled that it will soon be lowering its key rate further, analysts at Capital Economics said.Earlier in the day Switzerland's central bank, the SNB, kept its target range for the three-month Libor unchanged, at between -1.25% and -0.25%, as expected. However, the SNB cautioned that it could cut rates further or intervene in foreign exchange markets, if necessary, to curb strength in the swiss franc's value.Next drops after full-year profits UK clothing retailerNext grew its underlying pre-tax profit by 12.5% last year as overall sales rose by 7.2%. The company said its share buyback scheme meant that underlying EPS grew by 14.7% and dividends for the full year will increase by 16.3%, to 150p.Auto Trader Group, the UK car classified ad company on Thursday priced 590m shares at 235p/share in its initial public offering in the London market. The company is raising £437m of net proceeds in the offer with its private equity owner, Apax expected to raise around £926.2m out of the flotation. As of 12:18 the shares were changing hands at 268.75p.Chip designer ARM Holdings's market share in servers may reach 20% by 2020, versus less than 1% at present, the company has reportedly said. The London-listed outfit was scheduled to make a presentation at today's Bank of America Merrill Lynch Technology & Beyond Conference, in Taiwan.Electronics components distributor Premier Farnell reported adjusted profits before tax down 3% to reach £74m in 2014 but maintained its full-year dividend pay-out at 10.4p. That came on the back of a 0.8% fall in full-year revenues to £960.1m. However, the company's operating margins declined by less than forecast by analysts, slipping by 40 basis points, to 9.2%. The analyst consensus was for margins of 9%. Earnings per share (EPS) on an adjusted basis came in at 13.8p, down 3.5% from the prior year but ahead of the 13.5p which analysts had pencilled in.AstraZeneca has signed an agreement with Japanese-headquartered company Daiichi Sankyo to jointly commercialise a new drug called Movantik, an oral treatment for opioid-induced constipation in adults with chronic non-cancer pain. No longer labelled a controlled substance by the US Drug Enforcement Administration, its launch has been scheduled to take place early in April 2015.Savills reported a 21% increase in pre-tax profit to £84.7m, as revenue rose 19% to £1.08bn driven by a 38% increase in transaction advisory revenue, which the company attributed to the performance of the Savills Studley business in the US, strong performances in Asia and the UK and recovery in some European markets.Market MoverstechMARK 3,247.62 -0.06%FTSE 100 6,952.98 +0.11%FTSE 250 17,422.45 +0.34%FTSE 100 - RisersFresnillo (FRES) 676.00p +4.97%Sports Direct International (SPD) 656.50p +2.58%Antofagasta (ANTO) 698.00p +2.42%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,492.50p +2.37%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,777.00p +2.18%British Land Co (BLND) 867.00p +2.12%Hammerson (HMSO) 687.00p +2.00%Aviva (AV.) 566.00p +1.89%Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 478.30p +1.83%GKN (GKN) 375.30p +1.79%FTSE 100 - FallersNext (NXT) 7,350.00p -3.54%British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,672.50p -3.25%Meggitt (MGGT) 580.00p -1.28%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 3,168.00p -1.03%Mondi (MNDI) 1,349.00p -0.81%Pearson (PSON) 1,490.00p -0.80%Unilever (ULVR) 2,903.00p -0.79%HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 574.80p -0.78%Diageo (DGE) 1,939.00p -0.77%Royal Mail (RMG) 445.40p -0.74%FTSE 250 - RisersPremier Oil (PMO) 146.10p +7.58%Soco International (SIA) 157.80p +6.69%Acacia Mining (ACA) 246.50p +4.94%Supergroup (SGP) 916.00p +4.87%Ophir Energy (OPHR) 130.30p +4.41%Countrywide (CWD) 557.50p +4.30%Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 442.60p +4.09%Vedanta Resources (VED) 457.10p +3.91%Centamin (DI) (CEY) 53.50p +3.68%Hunting (HTG) 482.20p +3.37%FTSE 250 - FallersBrit (BRIT) 278.50p -8.60%Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 634.00p -6.70%Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 408.90p -4.04%Hiscox Ltd (CDI) (HSX) 816.00p -3.77%Jimmy Choo (CHOO) 168.90p -3.49%Premier Farnell (PFL) 184.90p -3.19%Ladbrokes (LAD) 110.80p -2.38%Ted Baker (TED) 2,751.00p -2.34%Serco Group (SRP) 170.80p -2.18%Hellermanntyton Group (HTY) 346.50p -1.84%